Seducing the Subconscious: The Psychology of Emotional Influence in Advertising Robert Heath

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Our relationship with ads: it's complicated

A must-read for anyone intrigued by the role and influence of the ad world, Seducing the Subconscious explores the complexities of our relationship to advertising. Robert Heath uses approaches from experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience to outline his theory of the subconscious influence of advertising in its audience's lives. In addition to looking at ads' influence on consumers, Heath also addresses how advertising is evolving, noting especially the ethical implications of its development. Supported by current research, Seducing the Subconscious shows us just how strange and complicated our relationship is with the ads we see every day.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Taking Advertising Apart
• 1 The Persuasion Model (p. 15)
• 2 Alternative Ideas (p. 24)
• 3 Why We Don't Pay Attention to Advertising (p. 39)
• Part 1 Summary (p. 48)
• Part 2 The Psychology of Communication
• 4 Learning and Attention (p. 53)
• 5 The Role of Memory (p. 53)
• 6 How We Process Communication (p. 74)
• 7 Problems with Getting Attention (p. 85)
• Part 2 Summary (p. 95)
• Part 3 Emotion and Consciousness
• 8 Emotional Processing (p. 101)
• 9 Our Adaptive Subconscious (p. 111)
• 10 Emotion and Attention (p. 123)
• Part 3 Summary (p. 133)
• Part 4 Decisions and Relationships
• 11 Decision-Making (p. 137)
• 12 The Power of Metacommunication (p. 149)
• 13 The Subconscious Seduction Model (p. 160)
• Part 4 Summary (p. 174)
• Part 5 Taking A Fresh Look at Advertising
• 14 Under the Radar (p. 179)
• 15 The Hidden Power of New Media (p. 189)
• 16 Legal, Decent, Honest, and Truthful? (p. 198)
• 17 How to Spot Subconscious Seduction (p. 207)
• Conclusion (p. 219)
• References (p. 229)
• Index (p. 239)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Heath (advertising, Univ. of Bath School of Management, UK) draws on more than a hundred years of advertising theory and practice in this analytical look at subconscious (subliminal) advertising methods. The book focuses on the ways people tune in to advertising; process and are persuaded by its messages; and make decisions about what to buy. Heath notes that in the early 1900s advertising was viewed primarily as "salesmanship in print." Around this time, the acronym AIDA (attention/interest/desire/action), which was developed to assist door-to-door salespeople, became well known as the standard advertising model. It was not until Vance Packard's groundbreaking book, The Hidden Persuaders, was published in 1957 that motivational research and consumer manipulation moved to the forefront. Now, in an age of constant communication and widespread data mining into people's lives, advertisers have even more psychological tools to convince consumers to buy. Heath describes how, tapping into memories, perceptions, emotions, feelings, and communication patterns, ads fly under the radar to seduce people. See related, Lawrence Samuel, Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America (CH, Dec'10, 48-2182), and August Bullock, The Secret Sales Pitch: An Overview of Subliminal Advertising (CH, Nov'04, 42-1659). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division and graduate students of advertising and psychology, faculty, and practitioners. P. G. Kishel Cypress College